Erie Karma Thegsum Chöling Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center will take part in a First Light observance timed to the arrival of the Western new year.

Celebrations will begin at the international date line and follow the sun westward around the globe. Sunrise on Tuesday in Erie will be at 7:49 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

"We're actually joining people from all over the world as we light our candles to offer compassion and for world peace," Hamilton, a member of Erie Karma Thegsum Chöling, said.

The Erie Buddhist group, which is housed in the Neighborhood Partnership Center, is affiliated with the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery near Woodstock, N.Y., where more than 100 peace lamps will be lit Tuesday.

"The First Light peace prayer ceremony commemorates the profound gift of Buddhist teachings, which offer us an analysis of suffering and its causes as a means of bringing about its cessation, and ushering in lasting peace," states a letter on the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra website.

Hamilton said the Erie ceremony will include the chanting of prayers for world peace. The prayers were written for First Light by the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, she said.

"In our tradition, we seek enlightenment for ourselves and also to benefit all beings," Hamilton said.

Participants also will be able to light candles and place them on the shrine at the Erie center to "symbolically add the light of their prayers and aspirations to the light of the sun, which, like the Buddhist concept of loving kindness and compassion, shines equally on all beings without discrimination," she said.

Hamilton said the Erie observance will run until about 9 or 9:30 a.m., with quiet meditation at the end for participants to spend some time on their own aspirations and thoughts. She said that's just a nice way to start the new year.

DANA MASSING can be reached at 870-1729 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmassing.